Human Events

Read how North and the Freedom Alliance help wounded veterans and their families, including Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. 1st Class LeRoy Petry and his family. Petry, an Army Ranger, is the veteran of six combat tours. During his multiple surgeries and other treatments for combat injuries he received financial assistance for travel expenses, so he could be with his family.

Common Sense: It’s What We Do

Read how North and the Freedom Alliance help wounded veterans and their families, including Medal of Honor recipient Sgt. 1st Class LeRoy Petry and his family. Petry, an Army Ranger, is the veteran of six combat tours. During his multiple surgeries and other treatments for combat injuries he received financial assistance for travel expenses, so he could be with his family.

On July 12, 2011, President Barack Obama presented Sgt. 1st Class Leroy A. Petry with the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during battle in 2008 in Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo

Washington, DC – Few of us will ever meet a Medal of Honor (MOH) recipient. Fewer still ever will have the opportunity to be of assistance to one. In part, that’s because “The Medal” – our nation’s highest military decoration, awarded for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty” – is worn by just 85 living Americans.

Since we were attacked on 9-11-01, the Medal of Honor has been awarded only nine times to the more than 2 million Americans who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Army Sergeant First Class Paul Smith, Marine Corporal Jason Dunham, Navy SEALs Lieutenant Michael Murphy and Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Michael Monsoor, Army Specialist Ross McGinnis, Army Sergeant First Class Jared Monti and Army Staff Sergeant Robert Miller all received the recognition posthumously.

Until this week, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Salvatore Giunta was the only living MOH recipient of the nearly decade-long global war on terror. On July 12, in the East Room of the White House, the President presented the Medal of Honor to U.S. Army Ranger Sergeant First Class Leroy Petry for his extraordinary heroism during a bloody engagement May 26, 2008, in Paktya Province, Afghanistan.

Excerpts from the citation for then-Staff Sergeant Petry describe how he “and another Ranger were engaged and wounded by automatic weapons fire from enemy fighters” and how “under enemy fire, and wounded in both legs, Staff Sergeant Petry led the other Ranger to cover,” where they were joined by a third Ranger. An enemy grenade wounded his fellow soldiers, and a second grenade landed in their midst. “Instantly realizing the danger, Staff Sergeant Petry, unhesitatingly and with complete disregard for his safety, deliberately and selflessly moved forward, picked up the grenade, and in an effort to clear the immediate threat, threw the grenade away from his fellow Rangers.” As he released the grenade, it detonated, “amputating his right hand at the wrist and further injuring him with multiple shrapnel wounds.”

But that’s only part of the remarkable story of a modest American hero and his exceptional family. He is also the recipient of two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart from two combat tours in Iraq and six deployments to Afghanistan. He, his wife and their four children know all too well the challenges military families face as they cope with multiple deployments and life-changing injuries. They also know that the American people care.

Because of the severity of SFC Petry’s wounds, he had to endure multiple surgeries and more than two years of recuperation at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC) in San Antonio, Texas. While he was recovering there, the Petry family received support and encouragement from Freedom Alliance, an organization devoted to those who serve our nation in uniform. On two occasions while he was at BAMC, Freedom Alliance provided financial assistance to help his family with travel expenses that were not covered by the government.

That support wasn’t provided just because SFC Petry is a Medal of Honor recipient. When the calls come into the Freedom Alliance Heroes Support Center from a military hospital, all that matters is that a wounded service member’s family needs help. The Petrys are just one example of the hundreds of wounded military personnel and their families whom Freedom Alliance has provided with more than $1 million in financial grants in the past four years.

That’s not all Freedom Alliance does for those serving our country. Thus far this year, the organization has sent thousands of Gifts from Home care packages to troops deployed overseas. Freedom Alliance also hosts and sponsors hundreds of dinners, picnics, and “family days” every year to honor the troops and their families. Thanks to Sean Hannity and FOX News, the Freedom Alliance Heroes Scholarship Fund has provided more than $4 million in college scholarships to the children of service members who have been killed or permanently disabled in combat or other operational missions. And it doesn’t end there.

Generous Americans who care about the sacrifices being made on faraway battlefields and by military families here at home have made it possible for the Freedom Alliance Heroes Support Center to provide a broad array of programs for the troops, their spouses and their children. Taking hurting heroes to Major League Baseball parks, National Football League games, fishing trips, hunting/sporting weekends and “dream vacations” all across America isn’t intended to make headlines. But one wounded Marine put it this way during a recent outing: “It’s the best time I’ve had since I got hit in Afghanistan.”

This week, as we watched the White House ceremony where SFC Leroy Petry was being awarded the Medal of Honor, I turned to Tom Kilgannon, President of Freedom Alliance, to congratulate him on the quiet help the organization provided during the heroic Ranger’s recovery. Kilgannon shrugged and responded, “It’s what we do.”